1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a remote control apparatus for operating an electronic device, and a communication system.
2. Description of the Related Art
There have been proposed television receivers that are capable of connecting to the Internet. For example, in a known technique, a television video signal upon which is superimposed a signal including uniform resource locator (URL) information about a network service related to a television broadcast program is transmitted, and then a television receiver receives this signal, accesses an access point corresponding to the URL via the Internet to receive data, and displays a corresponding website on a cathode ray tube (CRT) (see Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. Hei 9-162818).
In another known technique, a television receiver that is capable of connecting to the Internet performs a variety of data processing on the Internet while using information stored in an information storage medium, such as an integrated circuit (IC) card, (see Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2001-67412).
In such a television receiver that is capable of connecting to the Internet, an IC card is placed close to a reader/writer that is contained in the television receiver or externally connected to the television receiver, and information that is read from or written to the IC card is transmitted and received via the Internet. In the case where a user downloads a content, such as a movie content or a game content, from the Internet to enjoy it, for example, the IC card in which information is stored is placed close to the reader/writer, and this information is transmitted to the Internet via the television receiver, so that a price of the content is paid. Meanwhile, when the user performs an ordinary operation related to the television receiver, such as volume control or channel change, the user enters an operation instruction into a remote control apparatus (i.e., a remote controller) at a distance from the television receiver, and this operation instruction is transmitted to the television receiver.